Rules for obtaining, suspending, and terminating a student’s status, for the mobility and acknowledgement of education received during the study

(Second edition)

Article 1 - Obtaining the status of a student

1. Obtaining of the status of a student of Bachelor’s and certified dentist's educational programs of THU shall be carried out on the basis of unified national examinations or on the basis of mobility, as provided for by the legislation of Georgia;

2. Obtaining of the status of a student of Master’s educational program of THU shall be carried out on the basis of unified national examinations or on the basis of mobility, as provided for by the legislation of Georgia; for the purposes obtaining the status of a student of a Master’s program, Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University may organize one or more internal University examinations; internal University entry examination(s) shall be established in accordance with the decision of the faculty council carrying out Master’s educational programs;

3. Obtaining of the status of a student of Bachelor’s, Master’s, and certified dentist’s educational programs of THU without passing unified national examinations/general Masters’ examinations, may be permitted only in the cases provided for by the legislation of Georgia, on the basis of an order of the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia;

4. A necessary precondition for the enrolment (obtaining the status of a student) of a student in Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University shall be the conclusion of the agreement with the University for rendering educational services, and the registration with the administration each semester; the registration with the administration shall be performed during the period from the end of the semester to the beginning of the following semester. For the registration with the administration it shall be required to pay the tuition fee for the following semester in full (for the first year students) or at least 50% of the fee.

Article 2 - Suspending the status of a student

1. Suspension of the status of a student of Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University shall be carried out in accordance with the procedures provided for the Law of Georgia on Higher education, the Rules under an order N10/N of 4 February 2010 of the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, and the internal legal acts of Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University;

2. The grounds for the suspension of a status of a student of THU shall be the request by the relevant faculty, based on the following grounds:

a) the academic leave which is given to a student on the basis of his/her own application, for no more than 5 years, and in the case of the continuation of the study abroad - for the term required to study abroad (except for the study within the exchange educational programs); the study abroad shall be verified by a document, on the semester basis;

b) due to compulsory military recruitment (certified by a relevant document);

c) in the case of long illness which is certified by an appropriate document;

d) due to pregnancy, delivery of a child and childcare, on the basis of the application of a student;

e) in the case of failing to register with the administration, and/or failing to undergo academic registration, for the term of an appropriate semester;

f) in the case of the violation of the substantial condition(s) of the agreement signed between a student and THU on rendering educational services, including for the violation of financial liabilities (non-payment of tuition fees);

g) if an educational program implemented by THU has been revoked or changed, the student of which is the person, by ensuring his/her further education from the side of the University, in accordance with the Rules for ensuring further education for the students of relevant programs in the case of changing or revoking an educational program;

h) give under criminal liability, before the entry into legal force of a court decision, only in the case such measure is imposed as a restrictive measure, which makes it impossible for the student to participate in the education process, or if on the basis of a decision of the court that has entered into legal force, he/she is in the penitentiary institution;

3. Five years after the suspension of a student’s status Tbilisi Humanitarian University shall terminate the status of a student, unless otherwise provided for by the legislation of Georgia.

4. During the period of the suspension of a student’s status, the agreement for rendering educational service signed between the student and Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University shall be suspended.

Article 3 - Terminating the status of a student

1. Termination of the status of a student of Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University shall be carried out in accordance with the procedures provided for the Law of Georgia on Higher education, the Rules under an order N10/N of 4 February 2010 of the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, and the internal legal acts of Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University;

2. The grounds for terminating the status of a student shall be:

a) completion of the educational program on the given stage;

b) Personal application;

c) suspension of the status of a student for more than five years during the study at Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University;

d) carrying out of activities that are incompatible with the student’s status under the Internal Regulations of THU, ethical and disciplinary liability standards, which were followed by the procedures determined in accordance with internal legal acts of Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University, for the termination of the status of a student;

e) death or declaring as dead by a court;

f) other grounds determined by the legislation of Georgia.

3. Legal consequences of terminating the status of a student:

a) legal consequences provided for by a legal act on terminating the status of a student shall arise twelve months after the issuance of an order. Within this period of time a student’s status shall be deemed suspended and the student may enjoy the right of mobility.

b) in the case of terminating the status of a student, the status may be retrieved according to the procedures and terms provided for by the legislation of Georgia.

Article 4 - Retrieval of the status of a student

1. A student whose status has been suspended or terminated, may, on the basis of his/her own application, and/or in the case of eradication of grounds for suspending the status, retrieve the status of a student, according to the procedures and terms provided for by the legislation of Georgia, and the internal legal acts of THU, except for the cases, where the grounds for the termination of the status of a student is incompatible with the Regulations and Internal Regulations of THU;

2. The retrieval of the status of a student shall be carried out from the semester, from which the status of a student has been suspended/terminated;

3. The retrieval of the status of a student during the semester on the basis of the personal application may be permitted only in the case the grounds for such suspension have been terminated, if it is possible to achieve academic results during the current semester.

Article 5 - Addition of a semester

1. A student, who failed to obtain appropriate academic degree within the terms defined by the educational program, may complete the educational program during the following semester(s), on which a new agreement on rendering educational services shall be concluded with regard to the addition of a new semester(s);

2. The fees for the study during additional semester(s) shall be determined on the basis of the recommendation of the Dean, in accordance with the grades determined for the relevant training course(s), on the basis of an order of the Rector of the University; the fees for training grades shall be determined in accordance to the grades designated for each subject, based on the following formula: The current annual fee shall be divided by the number of grades (normally - 60), based on which the fee for a single grade shall be obtained.

Article 6 - External mobility of a student

1. The transfer of a student from THU and the transfer of the student of another higher educational institution to THU - or the mobility of students shall be carried out twice a calendar year, before the beginning of autumn and spring semesters, on the basis of the Law of Georgia on Higher Education, in accordance with an order N10/N of 4 February 2010 of the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, and internal legal acts of THU, within the terms defined by legal acts of the director of LEPL the Centre for Education Quality Enhancement;

2. Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University shall be authorized to register the mobility areas, in accordance with educational stages and main educational units, or based on educational programs, on the electronic portal;

3. Based on the request of the faculty councils, in accordance with the positive resolution of the Rector of THU, the manager of administration of the education process of the Quality Assurance Service shall ensure the registration of vacancies for students to be enrolled on the basis of the rule of mobility, on the electronic portal of the LEPL the National Centre for Education Quality Enhancement; by indicating the educational programs of the faculties;

4. The mobility may carried out within a single higher educational stage. For the purposes of this paragraph, educational program for a certified dentist shall be construed as a program which is compatible to the first stage of the higher educational program;

5. If the number of mobility applicants for an education program exceeds the number of registered vacancies, the right to be enrolled to THU shall be given to the number of students that equal to the number of vacancies registered by the University, as provided for by the legislation of Georgia, on the basis of a decision of the National Centre for Education Quality Enhancement;

6. A mobility applicant who does not apply to THU within the determined term for the enrolment in THU, shall lose the right to be enrolled for the educational program, except for the cases provided for by the legislation of Georgia.

7. THU, as a receiving higher educational institution, shall submit to LEPL the National Centre for Education Quality Enhancement an electronic version of a draft legal act (order) of the student’s enrolment, and the related information, in accordance with the form determined by the administrative and legal act of the Director of the Centre, based on which the Centre shall verify the compliance of a student’s data given in the draft order with the legislative requirements, the data of registry and electronic portal, and shall issue an opinion on the possibility of the enrolment of a student specified in the draft order on the basis of mobility. After receiving a positive opinion from the Centre on the draft order, an order of the Rector of THU shall be issued on the enrolment of a student on the basis of the mobility, and the order shall be reflected in the registry within 2 working days after its issuance, and shall be sent to the Centre within 3 working days.

8. In the case of movement from THU, an order on the termination of the status of a student with the right to be enrolled in another institution shall be issued on the basis of the opinion of the LEPL the National Centre for Education Quality Enhancement, and an extract from the order shall be issued within 1 week after the application of a student, together with education certificate, based on which he/she has been enrolled in THU, and other documents in the personal files of the student. The University may keep the Xerox copies of the personal files of the student intending to move to another higher educational institution. The electronic version of an order on the termination of a student’s status and the related information shall be submitted to the Centre in the form determined by an administrative legal act of the Director of the Centre before 7 October - during the autumn semester, or before 7 March - during the spring semester.

Article 7 - Internal mobility

1. A student of Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University shall have the right to change the educational program on the basis of internal mobility;

2. The administration of internal mobility process shall be carried out by Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University; the internal mobility shall be declared on the basis of an order of the Rector of THU, in the case of applications of students with regard to internal mobility;

3. A student may have the right to participate in the internal mobility under the procedures and terms provided for by the legislation of Georgia; a student may participate in the internal mobility even in the case, when for the moment of declaring the internal mobility, a student’s status concerned has been terminated;

4. The internal mobility may carried out within a single higher educational stage.

5. During the internal mobility process the student’s grades shall be acknowledged in accordance with the procedures for the acknowledgement of education under article 8 of these Rules and for the compliance with educational programs.

6. The internal mobility shall be declared twice a year, before the beginning of the semester. After the completion of the internal mobility process, Tbilisi Humanitarian Teaching University shall be obliged to provide results of internal mobility to LEPL the National Centre for Education Quality Enhancement, within the terms provided for by the legislation of Georgia;

7. On the basis of internal mobility, the transfer of a student to another educational program shall be documented on the basis of the Rector’s order.

Article 8 - The compliance of educational programs and the rules for the acknowledgement of education received during the study

1. An appropriate faculty council of THU shall verify the compatibility of results achieved by the student within other educational program, with the proposed educational program, and shall make an appropriate decision with regard to the acknowledgement of appropriate grades. Those grades shall be subject to acknowledgement that have been obtained within the educational program, on which students were enrolled for studies in accordance with the procedure provided for by the legislation of Georgia; the grades shall be acknowledged in accordance with the requirements provided for by the legislation of Georgia;

2. After the study in terms of contents, it may be possible to determine the compliance between the study courses taken by the student and those determined by the educational program of the receiving faculty of THU:

a) despite the difference between the names of programs;

b) if for one and the same study course under the educational program implemented by the receiving faculty of THU, one and the same ECTS grade or less is envisaged, with little difference than by the program of the higher educational institution, from which the student is transferred;

3. It shall be permitted to acknowledge the study course, which is not envisaged under the educational program of THU, within the limits of free grades determined by the educational program;

4. If the mobility applicant submits to the University such educational program, which is not completed in accordance with ECTS/European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, appropriate faculty council (receiving) of the University shall be authorized to require from the applicant resubmission of the educational program relevant to ECTS/European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, or shall calculate a student’s credit load itself as provided for by the legislation, and carry out a student’s transfer using the following procedures:

a) if an educational program has been completed in astronomic hours, the total of separate subjects shall be multiplied by 3 and divided by an equivalent of a single credit in hours, or by 25. For example, if in the astronomic hours the subject load comprises 60 hours, it shall be multiplied by 3 and divided by 25: 60X3/25=7,2 on the basis of rounding it equals to 7 credits;

b) if the assessment received by a student in another higher educational institution equals with a 5-grade system, it shall be transformed into a 100-grade system on the basis of the following principle: Grade 5 (Excellent) shall be randomly considered as - A (91) (Excellent) grade;

c) Grade Passed shall be transferred using the following principle: The total (the summed figure) of grades as a result of modification of grades obtained during the examinations with 5 grades of assessment system into a 100-grade assessment system shall be divided by the number of study disciplines and the received figure shall be equivalent to the assessment of the study course completed with Pass; for example: 81(4)+91(5)+71(4)+71(4)+91(5)+81(4)=486/6=81 (B).

5. Credits of higher educational programs based on which qualifications have been granted may not be acknowledged for the purposes of another educational program, except for the acknowledgement of credits obtained within the educational program of a certified specialist for the purposes of the Bachelor’s educational program.

6. The compatibility/compliance of programs shall be documented on the Act of Comparison and an opinion, on the basis of a grounded decision of the relevant (receiving) faculty council of THU, where the compliance of the educational program completed by the student with the receiving educational program will be specified, also the number of acknowledged/compatible credits; the draft faculty council decision shall be subject to the agreement with the Head of Quality Assurance Service of THU, which shall be verified by his/her signature;

7. Depending on the number of acknowledged credits, a student shall be enrolled by way of mobility, on the basis of the below given compliance, as a student of an appropriate semester:

The amount of acknowledged credits

Appropriate semester

To 15 credits

From the I semester

16-45 credits

From the II semester

46-75 credits

From the III semester

76-105 credits

From the IV semester

106-135 credits

From the V semester

136-165 credits

From the VI semester

166-195 credits

From the VII semester

From 196 credits

From the VIII semester

8. Education received abroad shall be acknowledged in accordance with the procedures provided for by Article 50 of the Law of Georgia on Higher Education.

Article 9 - Legal force

These Rules shall apply to the part, which does not contravene the legislation of Georgia. In the case of making amendments to the legislation of Georgia, before the relevant amendments are reflected in these Rules, the part of these Rules, which does not comply with the legislation of Georgia, shall be deemed invalid.